Having a target

Do you have a target to aim at? 

Are you trying to hit your target? If you do, congratulations are in order. 

Most people don’t have a target. They bring to mind the starting line of Longfellow’s old poem: 

“I shot an arrow into the air, it fell to earth I know not where,” 

And that’s the way it is – most people may “shoot an arrow” now and again, but they don’t know where it’s going, they don’t have a target to shoot at, they don’t know what they’re going to hit – in other words, if they wind up hitting anything worthwhile at all, it’s a major miracle. What’s the problem here? Well, most people just don’t want to set a target to shoot at – for fear they won’t hit it. 

Seems dumb, doesn’t it? But many of us do it at one time or another in our lives – and some of us live every day of our life in that manner – we never set a target to shoot at, so when we don’t hit it, it’s not a big deal – we really weren’t aiming at it, anyway. It makes failure more palatable, I know – but it pretty much locks you out of ever hitting what you want in life, except for the power of dumb luck. 

If we ever want to hit the important targets in our lives, we have to take aim at those targets. We need to look for the target, take the steps necessary to allow us to hit it, take aim, and then take our best shot. Even if we miss the first shot or two, each missed shot brings us closer to hitting the target. But if we never aim at it, we’re unlikely to ever hit the thing.   (Originally published in another blog in 2011)

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